“There’s no doubt that Canada is at the forefront of discussion around how to create more vibrant urban centres, increase density and build more sustainable cities,”

Huh? Oh, they mean condo towers, not public infrastructure... On a day when all the major news outlets are covering the crumbling Gardiner story (see my last post), I thought that this article in the Star reveals a very telling contrast in the fortunes of public and private sector development in Toronto, a city that, incredibly, leads the western world in private sector construction. It seems that the lowest interest rates since the Great Depression are having their intended effect (also with prices) except where the government itself is concerned. Many provinces and the federal government are running operating deficits but cry poverty at the prospect of borrowing long-term to fund long-lived infrastructure projects, which doesn't make much sense in terms aligning obligations and benefits. The issue of how to finance infrastructure is a huge one, and one I will cover more in the future, but it's worth noting that governments are pretty much the only entities in this country that have access to long term funding which traditionally was used to finance infrastructure, though rarely is anymore. Credit markets are working, as private borrowers know, they are just not working for infrastructure anymore, for reasons that appear to reflect our collective priorities more than anything else.

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Hi! My name is Tom Broen and I've started this site to further my interest and begin a conversation on the subject of public infrastructure as a social catalyst. Please check out any of the resources on here and feel free to join the discussion.